The Story of Esme

Summary:
How it began. How it happened. How it ended and how it was revived. A look into the life of Esme Cullen.

Notes:
This is my first attempt at writing more than just a short story. I have always loved Esme and she is one of my favorite characters in Twilight so i jus thad to tell her story the way I've imagined it.

7. Chapter 7

As we made our way down the stairs, I tucked a few pins in my unruly hair while my mother nearly tumbled over herself trying to get to the door with her usual punctuality. When she opened the door, Robert Evenson, his wife Amelia and their son Charles were already ascending the steps of our porch. Smiling warmly, my mother invited them in with cheery “hellos” and interested “how dos you dos” while I just stood aside to let in the family.

The patriarch of the family was a tall, immensely intimidating man of almost six and a half feet high with straight jet black, though graying, hair and sterling grey eyes. His wife was a mouse of a woman, petite and simple looking with dull light brown hair. She wasn’t much to look at and beside her towering son who had inherited his father’s height, she was even less noticeable. Charles, who was only two years my senior, was the bearer of an underdeveloped rounded face and his father’s hard grey eyes, making him appear less approachable and sociable.

Suddenly I found myself being nudged forward by my mother, who held my shoulders as if displaying me like a china doll in a storefront window.

“Robert, Amelia. This if my daughter Esme,” she introduced before adding, “The last time you saw her she was not yet fifteen.”

“So nice to see you again. My, you have grown into quite the woman, if I may saw so myself,” she said louder than I had expected her to. I blushed at the embarrassing comment but was secretly overjoyed to have someone who thought I was grown up tell me so aloud. Before I could reply, I felt a hand on my shoulder and I turned around to see a face I hadn’t seen in just under eight years.

“Jack!” I exclaimed as I jumped up to hug the older of the Evenson brothers and one of my best friends from my childhood.

“Well isn’t that a hello to remember,” he laughed as he squeezed me back, lifting me up off my feet and setting me down again. I broke away to look at what the years had done to him and realized, time had blessed him greatly.

He had been gifted with the best of his parent’s features: his mothers long eye lashes and full lips, his father’s chiseled facial features and charming smile. He was at least six inches taller than I, forcing me to stand on my toes when hugging him but I didn’t mind. As children we had played together constantly, though he was three years older than me, and as we reached adolescence, flirted with each other constantly, though never getting anywhere as much as I would have liked. Jack, my brother and I had been a trio of sorts, closer than blood. But when the Evenson’s moved to Columbus when I was fourteen, our tree-climbing, lake fishing, rough housing days went away along with my first real crush. Yes. Me, the eternal independent feminist, had at one time been secretly in love with this charming, highly attractive man.

I beamed up at him, smiling more than I had since I’d heard the news of the Evenson’s invitation to dinner. But it wasn’t because I was happy to see him as it was that he seemed to look at me differently, almost as if he was attracted to me. But maybe I was jumping the gun, so to speak. Who knows.

Before I could begin an actual conversation with my best, and most missed, friend, my mother cleared her throat to catch our attention.

“Sorry to interrupt, but dinner is ready and on the table,” she said cordially, ushering the way to the dining room.

As we walked to the table, I felt not one but two pairs of eyes on my back. I turned my head just enough to see who it was, pretending to look at a painting of my grandparents. Both Jack and Charles were eyeing me peculiarly, as if I was something they were competing for. It was the strangest feeling to be looked at by men with interest rather than with disdain. I realized, just from my female intuition, that I was something the Evenson brothers desired. Just the thought of me being desirable by two older men was enough to tweak my ego for a little while.

Dinner was uneventful. My parents talked with the Evenson’s about everything from politics to the economy to the war. I generally stayed out of the conversation since my mind was too occupied by the thought of Jack. Finally, I excused myself from the table and went outside to just try to breath, hoping the fresh air would help me clear and calm my mind. I sat on the porch swing, kicking off my uncomfortable shoes and closing my eyes. I tried to picture something to distract my mind. The children from the Orphanage, the hustle and bustle of the city, even the face of my nearly forgotten love Carlisle Cullen. It was so nice to imagine his stunning face and beautiful golden eyes, the image being just as clear as it was the day I met him. But as I was immersing myself deeper and deeper into the memory, I felt a hand on my shoulder, making me jump in surprise.

He chuckled. “Well, of course not. You are, of course, the infamous Esme Platt. The same one who was never afraid of spiders or snakes.”

He was being sarcastic, I knew that. After all, he knew that I was and had always been terrified by both. I gave him a dramatic frown, only making him smile more. But I got lost in his gaze and didn’t even notice that he had been talking.

“May I sit down or is there no room for an old friend here?” he asked, smiling a captivating smile that only he could pull off with genuine ease.

I broke his intent look and moved over.

“Sorry. That was rude of me,” I said, flustered at my impoliteness. “Here, there’s still some room.”

In actuality, there was quite a bit of room but he sat close to me rather than further away as he could have. Why he did this, I had an idea. We sat in silence for a few moments, looking around us and making the idea of us sitting together, alone, even more awkward than it already had been. I knew he was looking at my profile, my refined chin, full lips, my caramel hair that tended to seem luminous in the moonlight, or so I had been told. Turning my head to see him staring at me, I put on a look of wonderment and innocence.

“You know the last time I saw you, you were a gangly, little fourteen-year-old girl with a penchant for getting into trouble and now look at you. You’re a beautiful, strong woman who has a steady job and an intelligent mind,” he observed aloud, cocking his head to the side though still grinning fiendishly.

I blushed but quickly played it off.

“Oh, Jack, don’t tease me. If anyone’s changed, you have. When I last saw you, you were a lanky, awkward-looking sixteen-year-old know-it-all and it was you who had the penchant for getting into trouble, usually getting me into trouble as well,” I countered, trying to lighten the uncomfortable air.

I had never been one to take compliments very well, always claiming the givers to be flattering me or exaggerating and then trying to make it into a joke to make it easier to deal with. But Jack, knowing that I would do this, didn’t go along with the joke.

“I’m not teasing you, Esme. I’m being honest and you know it,” he pressed on, until I looked back up at him, causing out eyes to lock on each other. My joking smile faded into one that was more genuine. I just looked at him for a few moments, letting myself drown in the cerulean pools that were his eyes.

Without warning he reached out with his hand to tuck a loose strand of my hair behind one ear, allowing the back of it to brush across my jaw line in the process. My eyes closed as I felt his skin touch mine, igniting a spark inside me that sent a shockwave of electricity to shoot through every corner of my body. I found myself looking up into his tender eye and I parted my lips to speak but I quickly forgot what I was going to say when he took my face in his hands, pulling me within inches of his head.

“Yes,” Jack murmured, taking in my face like a newborn child taking in the world for the first time. “I know so.”

And that was it.

As he pulled my face closer to his, I parted my lips, ready for his to touch mine. I closed my eyes, hoping he was doing the same thing. I gasped when his tongue parted my lips further, making my legs shake in amazement. Surrendering myself to that kiss, I found I was on new, uncharted territory that had to be explored to be made clearer. I had never kissed a man like that before…actually, I had never kissed any man anyway before aside from the affectionate, family kiss that I gave my father. But a romantic kiss like that? I was a complete and total novice. For some reason, in my head during the kiss, I couldn’t stop thinking about two things: what this meant for Jack and my friendship and, of course, for the man who would always have a place in my heart, Carlisle Cullen.